Tag Archives:
ned and the big babies

Did you see Ned & the Big Babies at Dog Bar during the Block Party? Wow! Tight, crisp, rockin’ sound; you just can’t help but move around! These guys are one of the most entertaining bands in Gloucester. And the best thing is that you could hear them all the way up on Main Street. I saw people dancing their way down to Dog Bar’s gorgeous outdoor dining spot on their Rogers St. side because you couldn’t just walk, you had to dance. Thankfully, nobody took any photos of me dancing down there (at least none that I know of).

Like this:

Even though this is a blog — and a blog is supposed to be an immediate YOU HEARD IT HERE FIRST medium — people have been telling us we should talk more about what’s happening the day after our post because they often read the posts the next day. We get it. Not everybody sits at a computer all day — and even some of you who do have bosses that want you to get some work done, not surf the web all day. So here we go:

IT’S A BIG FRIDAY NIGHT on Cape Ann with music for every taste. If you play your cards right, you can get to at least 2 live shows. Start out with Linda Amero Menage a Trio at the Franklin or Mia Chung, Elisabeth Ann Larson and Soo Bae performing all three of Brahms Piano Trios at Shalin Liu in Rockport. Then finish up with Ned & The Big Babies @ Rhumb Line. Plus there’s plenty more for nearly every other musical taste. See the full lineup here.

Here’s a video for all you piano, violin and cello players of Brahms Piano Trio No. 1 where you can follow along with the score:

And here’s one of my favorite clips (if a bit wobbly) of Ned & the Big Babies. Don’t you just love that groove! Ned is always right there with you and he’s one of those great bass players who plays bass like he LOVES it, not like he’d rather be playing lead guitar.

We may be somewhat old-fashioned, but we still listen to CDs for 3 major reasons:

We prefer the superior sound quality

We have a lot of them that we bought before MP3s were available

The only iPod in our house belongs to John (I can’t stand putting anything in my ear!)

But when Vickie had to jump on a plane to Iowa suddenly last Saturday to deal with a family emergency, she felt the need to bring a taste of Gloucester with her. So she ripped our copy of Chelsea Berry‘s CD Live in the Moment (one of Vickie’s favorites) and put it in our cloud (the Amazon cloud, that is) so she could listen to it on the plane and while in Iowa — along with lots of other music from Gloucester (see list below) and elsewhere that is already stored there.

Although we’re fans of the Joey Approved Product series, those of you who read our posts regularly know that we’ve never even mentioned a product or service that we use — until now. This is different. Why? Because the cloud is changing the way we buy, store and listen to our music more than any other technology since Edison invented the phonograph.

Here’s why we like the Amazon Cloud Service:

We can access our music using devices we already own, including our desktop PCs, laptop, droid phones and John’s Kindle Fire.

It’s free. Amazon has a free cloud player for the phone and a free interface for the PC. There is a a limit to the amount of music you can store for free, but we haven’t hit that limit (remember, we still listen to CDs a lot) and music we buy from Amazon (mostly for John) doesn’t count toward that limit.

All music we buy from Amazon automatically shows up in the cloud and is IMMEDIATELY accessible on all of our devices. Here’s an example. John and I are big Bruce Springsteen fans — and Vickie knows that. On the day Wrecking Ball came out, she was sitting on the couch with John’s Kindle fire and said, “I just got it.” (Wrecking Ball, that is) at which point, I plugged my phone into the stereo (because I don’t put anything in my ear) and began playing it!

All of us in the family can play all of the music at any time without restriction. For example, while Vickie’s in Iowa, she can play Chelsea’s I Wonder on her phone or her mother’s computer while John plays the same song on his Kindle Fire and I play that same song on my phone hooked up to the stereo (because I don’t put anything in my ear) — all at the same time.

It’s easy to rip our CDs and add them to the cloud (it took Vickie only a couple of minutes to add Chelsea’s CD to our cloud before we took her to the airport).

Some of you may know that I’ve made a number of predictions that have come to pass relative to the Internet, music, etc. (for example, in 1998 I predicted that by 2003 every business will either have a website or wish they did). Here’s another one: By 2020, the most common way to listen to recorded music will be to access it from a cloud server.

And here’s a partial list of local artists, whose music Vickie is playing for her family in Iowa from our cloud (in alpha order by artist last name or band name):

Here are a very few suggestions in various genres (this is NOT an exhaustive list of who you might enjoy — see that here)

If you’ve never seen rocker Ned and the Big Babies, you should catch them tonight at the Rhumb Line. You’ll be dancin’ — believe me.

If you missed The Runaround Sound high energy ska, reggae, punk-rock band at the Boulevard on July 3, you can catch them tonight at Capt Carlo’s and tomorrow at the Rhumb Line. You’ll get a workout if you go to both shows, so no need to go to the gym this weekend.

If you like New Orleans Jazz & Blues and you missed Henri Smith opening for Aaron Neville on June 30, you can catch him at the Brew Pub on Saturday (see Henri Smith videos here) Henri is also opening the Gloucester Blues Festival on August 11.

Also on Saturday is the latest in T Max’s concert series at the Dog Bar. This time he mixes bluegrass from Tom Eaton & Pick 3 with singer/songwriter Jon Waterman and his own style that’s a must-see but impossible to peg.

On Sunday music begins at 10:30am at Seaward Inn in Rockport and continues all day with two free outdoor concerts: Michael O’Leary’s Celtic music at Halibut Point State Park at 2:30 and the Compaq Big Band at Stage Fort Park at 7pm.

Remember this a very small list of a few highlights. Check all shows before you decide where to go.

Gloucester Webcam

The GloucesterCast Podcast

Free GMG Gloucester Sticker

As long as supplies last if any GMG folks want a bumper sticker but can't drop down the dock, just send a self addressed and stamped envelope longer then 7 and a half inches and I'll drop one in the mail for you.

Send the self addressed and stamped envelope to the dock at 95 East Main St Gloucester Ma 01930 care of Joey (put my name in big letters to make sure it gets to me)

Free GMG Gloucester Sticker

As long as supplies last if any GMG folks want a bumper sticker but can't drop down the dock, just send a self addressed and stamped envelope longer then 7 and a half inches and I'll drop one in the mail for you.

Send the self addressed and stamped envelope to the dock at 95 East Main St Gloucester Ma 01930 care of Joey (put my name in big letters to make sure it gets to me)